Thriller

  • Alfred Hitchcock – Lifeboat (1944)

    1941-1950Alfred HitchcockDramaThrillerUSA

    Several survivors of a torpedoed ship find themselves in the same boat with one of the men who sunk it.
    In the Atlantic during WWII, a ship and a German U-boat are involved in a battle and both are sunk. The survivors from the ship gather in one of the boats. They are from a variety of backgrounds: an international journalist, a rich businessman, the radio operator, a nurse, a steward, a sailor and an engineer with communist tendencies. Trouble starts when they pull a man out of the water who turns out to be from the U-boat.Read More »

  • Louis Malle – Ascenseur pour l’échafaud AKA Elevator to the Gallows (1958)

    1951-1960DramaFranceLouis MalleThriller

    Quote:
    Malle’s first feature, a straightforward but classy thriller about an ex-paratrooper’s attempt to dispose of his mistress’ tycoon husband in a perfect murder. It became associated with the early excitements of the nouvelle vague mainly through the performances of Ronet (playing a prototype of the disgruntled Vietnam veteran) and Moreau (who does some moody solo wandering in the streets searching for her missing lover). The ingenious plot, using a malfunctioning lift as its deus-ex-machina, has one carefully plotted murder conjure another as its shadow image. But the cement holding the film together is really the splendid jazz score improvised by Miles Davis.Read More »

  • Gaspar Noé – Lux Æterna AKA Lumiere Eternelle (2019)

    2011-2020DramaFranceGaspar NoéThriller

    Two actresses, Béatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg, are on a film set telling stories about witches – but that’s not all. ‘Lux Æterna’ is also an essay on cinema, the love of film, and on-set hysterics.
    Quote:
    I think this film is admirable in many ways although not devoid of flaws, the main one being that for the nth time, Noé pulls the same expectable tricks with colorful lighting, flickering images and references to his classics (even just the title, “Lux Aeterna” is the György Ligeti eerie choir piece used in “2001: A Space Odyssey”), etc. So that does get a little unimaginative, especially since the atmosphere and development are very close to his latest long feature, “Climax”.Read More »

  • Bette Gordon – Luminous Motion (1998)

    1991-2000Bette GordonDramaThrillerUSA

    Quote:
    LUMINOUS MOTION is a dreamlike and erotically charged thriller from critically acclaimed director Bette Gordon (Variety). Deborah Kara Unger (The Game) stars as an unnamed hustler who seduces and robs gullible men while criss-crossing the country with her ten-year-old son Phillip (Eric Lloyd, The Santa Clause). Phillip grows accustomed to this outlaw life on the road, but his world is turned upside-down when his mother settles in the suburbs with a carpenter named Pedro (Terry Kinney). Desperate to reclaim his mom’s attentions, Phillip plots Pedro’s violent end, hoping for a return to the road. But this Oedipal dream turns into a nightmare as they are pursued by ghosts from their past, including Phillip’s menacing father (Jamey Sheridan, Spotlight), who seems to be intent on reclaiming his place at the head of this deteriorating family.Read More »

  • Nikola Tanhofer – Osma vrata AKA The Eighth Door (1959)

    1951-1960Nikola TanhoferThrillerWarYugoslaviaYugoslavian Cinema under Tito

    Quote:
    The film takes place in Belgrade during the German occupation in World War II. The main character is Predrag Simonović, played by Milivoje Živanović, a professor who is not concerned with politics and war, but who accidentally comes into possession of a list of resistance movement members and becomes involved.Read More »

  • Larry Cohen – Perfect Strangers (1984)

    1981-1990DramaLarry CohenThrillerUSA

    Quote:
    A hit-man tries to seduce the mother of a child who witnessed his most recent kill.Read More »

  • Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Amores perros AKA Love’s a Bitch (2000)

    1991-2000Alejandro González IñárrituDramaMexicoThriller

    Quote:
    Sending shock waves through the Mexican film industry and the world, this blistering feature debut from Alejandro G. Iñárritu brought the director’s electrifying visual style and bravura multistrand storytelling to the screen with the heart-stopping impact of a primal scream. In Mexico City, the lives of three strangers—a young man mixed up in the gritty underworld of dogfighting, a glamorous woman who seems to have it all, and a mysterious assassin who is desperate to reconnect with his estranged daughter—collide in a tragic twist of fate that forever alters their personal journeys. A tour de force of violence and emotion captured in a rush of kinetic handheld camera work, Amores perros is an unforgettable plunge into a world of brutality and aching, interconnected humanity.Read More »

  • Lewis Seiler – Murder in the Air (1940)

    1931-1940ActionLewis SeilerThrillerUSA

    Plot: Enemy agents are everywhere and they are sabotaging all important war deliveries. The body of a hobo found in a train wreck had a money belt with $50,000 and a tattoo of a circle and arrow. This is a tattoo for saboteurs for hire and Brass must impersonate the dead man to find out what his orders are. As Steve Coe, he meets with the band of enemy agents in California and everything goes well until the wife of the dead ‘Hobo’ shows up. Luckily, Gabby is able to save Brass and Brass learns what is his assignment. He is to board the USN airship ‘Mason’, which is testing the super secret Inertia Projector, and destroy the airship. Written by Tony FontanaRead More »

  • Claude Miller – Dites-lui que je l’aime AKA This Sweet Sickness (1977)

    Drama1971-1980Claude MillerFranceThriller

    Synopsis:
    David is an accountant. He leaves town every Friday, pretending he is going to take care of his parents at their old people’s home. But actually his parents are dead, and he spends the week-ends converting a chalet. He intends to live there with Lise, a woman he knows and loves since childhood. But Lise has just married another and has a baby. David’s mad love does not see those facts as an obstacle…Read More »

Back to top button